Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A few weeks ago Tommy Milner tweeted about a charity karting event to raise money in memory of Ian Turner, a friend of the Milner family. I had not been karting in many years and it seemed like a good opportunity to meet some interesting people and support a good cause. It was a 500 lap or 10 hour event at Summit Point Kart in West Virginia. There were 16 teams with as few as 3 and as many as 7 or 8 drivers per team. Some teams come with full fire suits, radios etc, others in t shirts and jeans. We were in the t shirt and jean category. The race was really well organized and catered to both the serious and more casual teams.

"how did the kart feel on that stint?"

driver change

competitors confused by our pit board

Tommy goes in for another stint

timing and scoring

The event was all day so there was ample time to talk to Tommy about his career and his to hear his perspective on topics like the Grand AM ALMS merger and small details like the effectiveness of the rear view cameras in the GT cars.

we didnt make the podium but we still got a bottle

we all signed the bottle for the family of Ian Turner

after lingering at the track for a while Tommy suggested we all get dinner. What followed was one of the drives of my life following Tommy Milner in the 2002 and a Baltimore Police officer in the corvette on a spirited drive on some really nice roads in rural West VA.

The event organized by Tommy raised over $3000. I was honored to be a small part of that effort.